Trade Liberalization and Development in ICT Sector and its impact on household welfare in Viet Nam
The term of “information society” was first introduced by Malchup and Porat in the 1970s. Since then information has increasingly been considered as a critical factor in the development process. Various scholars have used information deficiencies to explain development differences among countries and argued that information and communication technologies (ICTs) 1 may facilitate and speed up the development process by providing cheaper and more efficient ways and tools of information gathering, processing and dissemination. They are helping accelerate productivity gains and access to health information or educational services, and are modifying the way people learn and interact, and exchange and voice their interests. It is impossible for a developing country to integrate into the “global information society” if that country has not an adequate access to ICTs (Greenwald and Stiglitz, 1986; Stiglitz, 1988, 1989; the World Bank, 1998; Hamelink, 1997; UNCTAD, 2006).